Lasting-machine.



A. FOWLER. LASTING MACHINE. mwucmom man APR. 6. mm.

hunted Feb. 26, 1918.

n'rirnn sires PATENT enrich ALFRED B. rearranges-seventy, i/rnssAcHUsn-rrs, ASSIGNOR,-BY nn-sun ASSIGN- Mn1v'rs',*7ro UNITED snon MACHINERY oonronatrioiv, or rarnnson, new JERSEY,

A; CORPORATION OF -NEW JERSEY.

LASTING-MACHINE,

To all whomitmdy concern:

Be i knQ I hfi I, A RED iB- F a citizen of the United States, residing at Beverly, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have inventedcertainlinprovements in Lasting-Machine s, of which the followingdescription, connection With the accompanying dravvings, is a specification, like' reference ,characters on the drawings indicating like parts in the several figis provided for seizing the marginal edge portion of a shoe upper and holding it While the shoe is manipulated ,to stretch and tens on the upper about the last and over the sole edge, in ivhich position it is secured preferably by driving tacks through the ten-sioned upper into the edge of the sole. The operation of applying tension to the upper and fastening the upper to the sole is preferably performed on successive porlions of the upper progressively until the upper has been lasted and tacked all the Way around.

Sincethe soles ofdifferent sizes of shoes, vary considerably inthickness which renders it particularly difficult to drive the tacks accurately in holding position and Without releasingthe tension on theup per an important feature of the present invention resides in the provision of meansto position the shoeand therebythe soleedge in a predetermined relation to the tacking mechanism. Conveniently, the means for seizing the up per is so arranged that it may be removed from operative position in order to allow stay tacks to be driven to hold the upper in proper position on the last.

These and other features of the invention will be more fully disclosed in connection with the following description of La preferred machine and Will then be more particularlypointedv out inithe claims. I

' Figure 1 isa left hand side ,elevatien .of a preferred embodiment of the machine;

. :Specification. of Letters tPatent.

frame.

Fig. 2 is a pe'rspective'vievv of the-gripping mechanism; and

Fig. 3 shows the position of the-shoe asthe tack is driven.

The column 1 of the machine supports a head or frame 2 in which a cam shaft Shas a bearing and on which runs continuously a loose pulley This pulley is -moved along the shaft into engagement with a clutch cone 6 faston the shaft Shy a'lever7 fulcrunied at 8 on the frame of the machine, the movement of the lever"? in clutch engaging direction being effected by means of aspring 9 connected at one end to said lever and at its other end to the machine The lever 7 is normally held in its clutch releasing positionby .a catch plate 11 carried by a latch 12,'the catch plate engaging a second plate 13 upon the lever 7. The

is connected by a rod 25 to a treadle 26. The

release of the treadle moves the bell crank 23 upward until the catch plate 11 engages the catch plate 13 as the lever 15 is moved toward the left (Fig. l) by the cam 20.50 thatthe lever 7 .Will be moved toward the left carrying with it the pulley 5 out of engagement with the cam member 6. Continued movement of the lever 7 moves a brake member 28 into a cooperating part on the machine frame to stop the machine. The treadle 26 is normally held in its raised position by a spring 30[ The shaft operates the tack pot and other suitable tack feeding devices and also raises the driver into position to bev actuated by the spring operated ,arrnSZ, all .as usual in machines of this class and to Which no claim is made as thus far described.

Secured to. the column 1 of the machine is forwardly extending bracket v33 upon which a forked lever 35 is pivoted on a rod Patented ElF Bb- 26, :ihmlh. gllpp lication filed April 6, lei serial no. szaeei.

against the throat of the nail passage by the spring 38.,"and thefront end'forms the upper clamping jaw of a gripper. A second lever 39 having a rearwardly extending tail 40 is also pivoted on the rod 36 and its forward end extends below the jaw 35 to operate with'the jaw 35 to provide a gripper member. The inside face of the forward end of the lever39 is preferably toothed to assist the upper jaw 35 of the gripper in frictionally holding the shoe upper. A lever 42 which V is slotted to straddle the tail of thele- Ver 39 is pivoted at its forward end to the rod 36 and on its opposite end is connected to the'treadle 26 by a lost motion connection comprising a rod 45 which is yieldingly connected by a spring 47 to a rod 49 attached to the treadle. Pivoted in the slot in the lever 42 is a latch 46 which hooks over the tail 40 of the lever 39 thus retaining its outer endin operative relation to the upper jaw 35 and providing a connection between thelower jaw and the treadle whereby the lowerjaw maybe raisedby the treadle to seize the upper, the spring 47 of the treadle connection compensating for the different thickness of upper material gripped. The

latch 46 is held in engagement with the tail 40 by a spring pressed thumb rod 48 attached at one end to the said latch and supported by a bracket 50 secured to the rod 'A member 52'pivoted at its rear end on] the rod'36 straddles the lever 39 and its forward end 53' constitutes an abutment'for the shoe about which the shoe may be rocked by the operator to tension and draw the upper over the edge of the sole and about the last. A spring 55 attached to a projection J on the lever 52 and to a stud on the latch 46 tends to hold the member in operative position with relation to the lower jaw 39 of the "s pp r- 59 which has a bearing in the bracket 33 and is provided with a thumb wheel 60 for rotating the shaft. It will be seen that on the rotation of the eccentric'hub the links move the gripper mechanism carried by the rod' 36 in a substantially horizontal plane 'ba ckwardlyf or forwardly relatively to the ta cker nozzle. The gripper mechanism is secured in 1ts adjusted position on the bracket by the nuts 62 on the rod 36. V In the use of the machine for operating upon veldtschoen or stitch-down shoes the shoe'is presented to themachine by an operator with the, tread face 'or'the sole in a substantially horizontal plane and the edge of the sole against the fulcrum 53 and lower gripping jaw 39 as shown in Fig. 1. Upon the depression of the treadle 26 the portion of the upper extending beyond the projectingedge of the sole is seized by the gripper and held while the operator swings the shoe into a position to present the edge of the sole to the tacking mechanism, as shown in Fig. 3, using the abutment 53 as a fulcrum to stretch and tension the upper about the last during the manipulation of the shoe by the operator. Further depression of the treadle 26 after the shoe is in position to receive a tack effects an actuation of the tack driving mechanism to drive a tack through the upper and into the middle of the edge of the sole while the upper is held under tension by the gripper. By this ar rangement the amount of tension applied to the upper is predetermined by the position in which the shoe is presented to the machine or the extent of the movement of the shoe about the fulcrum and the upper is temporarily secured in its tensioned position over the edge of the projecting sole by tacking mechanism which is operated automatically by the gripping mechanism after it has operated to close the gripper. By the use of the thumb wheel 60 the fulcrum and lower gripper jaw may be adjusted to position the sole edge relatively to the tacking mechanism for soles varying in thickness. When stay tacks are to be driven through the upper and into the last, as is often found desirable to prevent displacement of the upper on the last, the latch 46 may be disengaged from the tail on the lever 39 by the spring pressed thumb rod 48, thereby allowing the lower gripper member 39 to fall out of operative position. By releasing the spring 55 the fulcrum member 52 is also enabled to swing down from operative position so that any portion of the shoe may be presented to the tacking mechanism.

Having explained the nature of this invention and fully described a preferred construction embodying the same, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States 1. A machine of the class described, having in combination, a fastening inserting mechanism, a fulcrum member about, which a shoe may be rocked to tension the upper about the last, a gripper comprising cooperating jaws constructed and arranged to hold the upper during the rocking of the shoe about said fulcrum and to enable the shoe to be positioned with the edge face of the shoe sole in fastening receiving relation to the fastening mechanism, and a single means for manually actuating said gripper and for causing the operation of said fastening inserting mechanism.

ing in combination, means for gripping a shoe upper, means about which the shoe may be rocked to tension the upper about the last, a tacker arranged relatively to said two means to secure the upper under tension to the edge face of the shoe sole, and a sin gle means for manually actuating said gripping means and for initiating the operation of said fastening inserting mechanism.

3. Avmachine of the class described having, in combination, a gripper comprising pairs of cooperatmg aws,a fulcrum member located adjacent to the gripper and about which the shoe may be rocked to tension the upper about the last, a power operated fastening inserting mechanism arranged with respect to said fulcrum member to insert fastenings through the tensioned upper and into the edge face of a shoe sole to secure the upper to the sole, and means for manually actuating said gripper and for initiating the operation of said fastening inserting mech anism.

f. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a tacker, means for gripping a shoe upper, means presenting a lateral abutment first for the edge face and then for the tread face of the sole and arranged for fulcruming the shoe thereon for tensioning the upper and presenting the sole edge of the shoe with the upper extending across it in positionto receive a tack, and a single means for actuating said gripping means and for causing the operation of said tacker. I

5. A machine of the class described hav ing, in combination, a tacker, a gripper adj acent to said tacker, a fulcrum about which the shoe may be rocked, means for adjusting the gripper and the fulcrum backwardly or forwardly with relation to the tacker and means for actuating said gripper and for causing the operation of said tacker.

6. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a tacker, a gripper adjacent to the tacker, a fulcrum member lo cated at the rear of the tacking point and about which the shoe may be rocked to stretch theupper and turn the shoe into position for the fastening to be inserted into the edge face of the sole and means for manually actuating said gripper and causing an automatic operation of said tacker, said machine having provision for adjustment of the gripper and the fulcrum member backwardly or forwardly to locate the sole edge in predetermined relations to the tacker.

7. A stitch-down lasting and tacking machine having, in combination, a tacker, a gripper adjacent to the tacker, a fulcrum member located at the rear of the tacking point and about which the shoe may be rocked to stretch the upper and to position the shoe for the fastening to be inserted into the edge face of the sole and means for manually actuating said gripper and for causing an automatic operation of said tacker.

8. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a fastening inserting mechanism, a gripper comprising pairs of jaws adjacent to said mechanism, a fulcrum adjacent to said gripper and about which the shoe may be rocked, a single means for manually actuating said gripper and causing the operation of said fastening inserting mechanism, and means to remove one of said jaws and the fulcrum from operative relation to the tacker.

9. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a fastening inserting mechanism, a gripper adjacent to said in serting mechanism and comprising an upper jaw and a relatively movable lower jaw, manually operated means for raising the lower jaw to grip a shoe upper against the upper jaw, and a fulcrum member arranged to permit fulcruming of the shoe thereon for stretching the shoe upper while it is held by said gripper and for presenting the edge face of the sole in a position to receive a fastening, said means for raising the lower jaw of said gripper being arranged to automatically cause an operation of said fastening inserting mechanism.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses. V

ALFRED B. FOWLER.

l/Vitnesses: ELMER B. GRUsH, HENRY KAHLMEYER.

topics of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0. 

